Meth for Flu??!

Nobody likes getting struck down by the flu. But, would you take methamphetamine to fight the flu, as opposed to, natural or over-the-counter drugs or remedies?

According to a study that was published online Nov. 6 in the journal PLoS ONE, and reported via LiveScience, meth may surprisingly contain flu-fighting properties. The study, which was conducted at the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan, began by exposing human lung epithelial cells to meth at different concentrations and infected them with human influenza A/WSN/33 (H1N1) virus. Researchers discovered that the more meth, the less the virus reproduced. Lead researcher Yun-Hsiang Chen stated:

We report the first evidence that meth significantly reduces, rather than increases, virus propagation and the susceptibility to influenza infection in the human lung epithelial cell line”

Obviously, no sane doctor would recommend that you begin taking meth to fight the flu, and most people would probably rather suffer through the flu than take meth. After all, the world’s second most abused drug after cannabis, has been proven to kill “brain cells, fuel tooth decay, load the body with toxins, and weaken the heart, muscles and immune system.” In fact, previous research found that chronic meth abusers became more susceptible to pathogens such as HIV, which is why this recent study is so shocking. So, why did researchers even attempt such a seemingly “ludacrious” study? They wrote:

This finding strongly encourages future work to investigate whether other compounds, structurally similar to meth, can inhibit influenza A virus production and be used to prevent or alleviate influenza A virus infection.”